1. Field
The present invention relates to the field of authenticating a network device in a location based verification framework and more specifically, authenticating the network device and generating a location based data encryption key for the network device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Existing smart electronic devices, for example, smart TV, smart phones, and smart music systems come with wireless networking capabilities. However, these electronic devices use various wireless networking protocols to communicate. Middleware technologies such as Universal Plug and Play networking (UPnP) provide a unified system for electronic devices running on different wireless networking technologies to connect and transfer data. Electronic devices compatible with UPnP system are known as UPnP devices. Wireless networks compatible with UPnP are referred as UPnP wireless networks.
A UPnP device dynamically connects to a UPnP wireless network, obtains an Internet Protocol (IP) address, conveys device capabilities of the UPnP device, and learns about presence and device capabilities of other UPnP devices in the UPnP wireless network without user intervention. The UPnP wireless network is an ad hoc network. Messages are broadcasted through wireless channels in the UPnP wireless network. The messages broadcasted through the wireless channels are susceptible to security attacks by unauthorized UPnP devices. Examples of security attacks by unauthorized UPnP devices include but are not limited to passive interception of data messages, active injection of network traffic, overloading of the UPnP wireless network with garbage messages, and unauthorized modification of messages. UPnP wireless networks maintain security and confidentiality of the messages by authenticating UPnP devices in the vicinity and encrypting the messages with a suitable cryptographic scheme. Existing systems employ several cryptographic schemes to encrypt the messages.
In one existing prior art, the UPnP wireless network perform symmetric-key cryptographic schemes to encrypt messages. In the symmetric-key cryptographic scheme, a sender UPnP device and a receiver UPnP device in the UPnP wireless network share an encryption key. The encryption key is used to encrypt and decrypt the message sent between the sender UPnP device and the receiver UPnP device in the UPnP wireless network via a secure communication line. However, with symmetric-key cryptographic scheme, each pair of UPnP devices in the UPnP wireless network requires a different encryption key. As a result, each UPnP device in the UPnP wireless network stores encryption keys for possible combination of pairs of UPnP devices in the UPnP wireless network. With symmetric-key cryptographic scheme, the UPnP devices in the UPnP wireless network have large memory requirements. Moreover, cost of the UPnP devices in the UPnP wireless network increases with memory requirements. As a result, symmetric-key cryptography schemes are not economically feasible for implementation in the UPnP wireless network due to high costs of the UPnP devices in the UPnP wireless network. Moreover, symmetry-key cryptography schemes are not economically feasible for implementation in network device authentication the UPnP wireless network.
In another existing prior art, the UPnP wireless network perform public-key cryptographic schemes to encrypt messages. The UPnP wireless network with the public-key cryptographic schemes utilizes a public encryption key to encrypt messages and a private decryption key to decrypt the messages. The public encryption key and a private decryption key are stored in each UPnP device in the UPnP wireless network. However, public-key cryptography scheme is complex, and slow. Moreover, power consumption in the UPnP wireless network with public-key cryptography scheme is high and drains the battery power of the UPnP devices rapidly. As a result, public key cryptography schemes are not feasible for implementation in the UPnP wireless network due to hardware constraints of the UPnP devices in the UPnP wireless network.
In light of the foregoing discussion, there is a need for a fast, simple and memory efficient method to authenticate UPnP devices in a wireless network and generate a location based data encryption key for the UPnP devices for encrypting messages transmitted in the wireless network.